Eric Swanson
{{short description|American lawyer}}
{{for multi|the American football wide receiver|Eric Swanson (American football)|the baseball pitcher|Erik Swanson}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Eric Swanson
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| disappeared_date =
| disappeared_place =
| disappeared_status =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| body_discovered =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| monuments =
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| citizenship =
| education = *University of Minnesota (BA; 1990)
- Hamline University School of Law (JD; 1993)
| alma_mater =
| occupation =Attorney
| years_active =
| employer = BATS Global Markets
| organization =
| agent =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| style =
| net_worth =
| height =
| television =
| title = Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| movement =
| opponents =
| boards =
| criminal_charge =
| criminal_penalty =
| criminal_status =
| spouse = Shana Madoff
| partner =
| children = 2
| parents =
| callsign =
| awards =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| signature_size =
| module =
| module2 =
| module3 =
| module4 =
| module5 =
| module6 =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Eric J. Swanson is an American lawyer who worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and dated and eventually married the daughter of Peter Madoff while the SEC was investigating Madoff's investment firm for what was eventually revealed to be a massive Ponzi scheme. Swanson is currently the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of BATS Global Markets, the third-largest stock exchange in the United States.
Swanson worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission as a lawyer from 1996 to 2006, rising to the level of Assistant Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. Subsequently, he worked at Ameriprise Financial as Vice President of Regulatory Strategy.
Swanson is married to Shana Madoff, who worked at the firm of her uncle Bernard Madoff as a rules and compliance officer and attorney until it was closed when the multibillion-dollar Madoff investment scandal was uncovered. Swanson met Shana Madoff originally when he was conducting an inadequate SEC examination of whether Bernie Madoff's firm was front running customer trades from the market making unit—completely missing the multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme that Shana's own cousins (Bernie's sons) would expose to the SEC in December 2008.
Early life and education
Swanson, a Minneapolis, Minnesota native, graduated from the University of Minnesota (B.A.; 1990) and obtained a J.D. degree from the Hamline University School of Law (J.D.; 1993).{{cite news|author=Telis Demos |url=https://money.cnn.com/2008/12/18/news/companies/madoff.stockexchange.fortune/index.htm |title=A stock exchange caught in the Madoff mess |publisher=CNN |date=December 18, 2008 |access-date=February 15, 2013}}[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/business/19swanson.html Labaton, Stephen, "Unlikely Player Pulled Into Madoff Swirl"], December 18, 2008, New York Times{{cite news|last=Slater |first=Dan |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/12/17/sec-to-probe-relationship-between-madoffs-niece-and-ex-sec-lawyer/ |title=SEC to Probe Relationship Between Madoff's Niece and Ex-SEC Lawyer |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=December 17, 2008 |access-date=February 15, 2013}}{{cite web|url=https://www.sec.gov/news/studies/2009/oig-509/exhibit-0452.pdf |title=Eric J. Swanson resume |publisher=SEC |access-date=February 15, 2013}}
Securities and Exchange Commission
Following a period of time in which he practiced non-securities-related law, Swanson worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a lawyer from August 1996 to 2006.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDWuilMrwkcC&pg=PA89 |title=Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme ... |isbn=978-1-4379-2186-1 |access-date=February 19, 2013|last1=David Kotz |first1=H. |year=2009 |publisher=DIANE }} While at the SEC, he received in August 2004 a Capital Markets Award, related to work in the area of SEC examinations of conflicts of interest. At the end of his tenure, he was Assistant Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, and reported to the head of the SEC's inspection program, supervising 8–18 staffers.[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/business/17madoff.html "S.E.C. Says It Missed Signals on Madoff Fraud Case"], Alex Berenson and Diana B. Henriques, December 16, 2008, New York Times
Madoff
Swanson is the husband of Shana Madoff, who is daughter of Peter Madoff. She is also a niece of Bernard Madoff, who operated a Ponzi scheme that is considered to be the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDWuilMrwkcC&pg=PA391 |title=Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme |publisher=Diane Publishing |year= 2010|isbn=978-1-4379-2186-1 |access-date=February 14, 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kddM4mPmy8AC&pg=PT184 |title=Madoff with the Money |author=Jerry Oppenheimer |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year= 2009|isbn=978-0-470-57281-8 |access-date=February 14, 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mn9WAAAAYAAJ&q=%22shana+madoff%22+compliance |title=Madoff: Corruption, Deceit, and the Making of the World's Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme|author=Peter J. Sander |publisher=Lyons Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-59921-811-3|access-date=February 14, 2013}} She worked under her father at her uncle's firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BMIS),{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xhbStL10aywC&pg=PT141 |title=Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff |author=Erin Arvedlund |publisher=Penguin |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-101-13778-9 |access-date=February 14, 2013}} as a rules and compliance officer and attorney.{{cite magazine |url=http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/02/the-madoff-saga-is-far-from-over/ |author=Allan Dodds Frank |title=The Madoff saga is far from over |magazine=Fortune |date=July 2, 2012 |access-date=February 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727151340/http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/02/the-madoff-saga-is-far-from-over/ |archive-date=July 27, 2013 }}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sI1jqoMRW7gC&pg=PA417 |title=Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases |author=O. C. Ferrell |author2=John Fraedrich |author3=Linda Ferrell |author4=Ferrell |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-111-82516-4 |access-date=February 14, 2013}} She reported to her father who was responsible for ensuring that BMIS complied with its legal and regulatory obligations, and signed documents assuring the SEC that BMIS's business records were truthful and accurate.{{cite news|url=http://in.reuters.com/article/madoff-family-idINN0233256520091002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306214321/http://in.reuters.com/article/madoff-family-idINN0233256520091002 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |author=Grant McCool |author2=Gerald E. McCormick |author3=Carol Bishopric |title=Trustee sues Madoffs who helped run firm |work=Reuters |date=October 3, 2009 |access-date=February 14, 2013}}
Swanson met Shana Madoff in April 2003.{{cite news|last=Williamson |first=Elizabeth |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122991035662025577 |title=Shana Madoff's Ties to Uncle Probed |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=December 22, 2008 |access-date=February 15, 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NqLowdnwd7EC&pg=PA46 |title=The Fundamental Rules of Risk Management |author=Nigel Da Costa Lewis |publisher= CRC Press|year= 2012 |isbn=978-1-4398-1618-9 |access-date=February 14, 2013}} The two met in 2003 at an industry event during an examination of Bernie Madoff by the SEC as to whether Bernie Madoff was front running customer orders, totally missing the multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme that would be exposed in December 2008. The two had periodic contact thereafter in connection with Swanson speaking at industry events organized by a SIFMA committee on which Shana Madoff sat. During 2003 Swanson sent Shana's father Peter Madoff two regulatory requests, although by the time of the second request Swanson's responsibility for the examination had been transferred to a different Assistant Director at the SEC.{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/19436875/53/B-Swanson%E2%80%99s-Initial-Contact-with-Shana-Madoff|title=Investigation of Failure of the SEC to uncover Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme (Public Version); B. Swanson's Initial Contact with Shana Madoff for SEC Office of Investigations Investigation of the SEC to Uncover Madoff Ponzi Scheme|date=August 31, 2009|author=U.S. SEC Office of Investigations|access-date=February 15, 2013}}{{cite news|url=http://m.foxbusiness.com/quickPage.html?page=19453&content=24978239&pageNum=-1|title=E-Mails Reveal Internal Drama at SEC Over Maddoff Firm|date=March 4, 2006|publisher=Fox Business|access-date=February 15, 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RtI1-5VyGDAC&pg=PA97|title=Catastrophe: The Story of Bernard L. Madoff, the Man Who Swindled the World|publisher=Phoenix Books, Inc|year=2009|author1=Deborah Hart Strober|author2=Gerald Strober|author3=Gerald S. Strober|isbn=978-1-59777-640-0|access-date=February 14, 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/howglobalfinanci0000davi|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/howglobalfinanci0000davi/page/118 118]|title=How the Global Financial Markets Really Work: The Definitive Guide to Understanding International Investment and Money Flows|publisher=Kogan Page Publisher|year=2010|author=Alexander Davidson|isbn=978-0-7494-5393-0 |access-date=February 14, 2013}}{{cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2008/12/15/madoff-victims-claim-conflict-of-interest-at-sec.html|title=Madoff Victims Claim Conflict of Interest at SEC|date=December 15, 2008|publisher=CNBC|author=Charles Gasparino|access-date=February 15, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216071703/https://www.cnbc.com/id/28242487/Madoff_Victims_Claim_Conflict_of_Interest_at_SEC|archive-date=December 16, 2013}}
In March 2004, SEC lawyer Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot, who was reviewing Madoff's firm, raised questions to Swanson (Walker-Lightfoot's boss's supervisor) about unusual trading at a Bernie Madoff fund; Walker-Lightfoot was told to instead concentrate on an unrelated matter.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070104223.html |author= Zachary A. Goldfarb|title=SEC Investigator Raised Madoff Concerns Years Ago, Was Asked to Look Elsewhere |newspaper=Washington Post |date=July 2, 2009 |access-date=February 15, 2013}}{{cite magazine|last=Pressler |first=Jessica |url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2009/07/sec_lawyer_raised_questions_ab.html |title=SEC Lawyer Raised Questions About Madoff Back in 2004 |magazine=New York Magazine |date=July 2, 2009 |access-date=February 15, 2013}} Swanson and Walker-Lightfoot's boss asked for her research, but did not act upon it.
In February 2006, Swanson was emailed by Assistant Director John Nee that the SEC's New York Regional Office was investigating a complaint that Bernard Madoff might be running "the biggest Ponzi scheme ever." In April 2006, Swanson began to date Shana Madoff. Swanson reported the relationship to his supervisor who wrote in an email "I guess we won't be investigating Madoff anytime soon."{{cite news|url=http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13316650|title=True love can never be regulated|date=September 12, 2009|newspaper=The Denver Post|author=Al Lewis|access-date=February 19, 2013}}
In 2006, the SEC's New York Enforcement Office, of which Swanson was not a part, closed its investigation of Bernie Madoff. On 15 September 2006, Swanson left the SEC.{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2ks0SCDEFEU&refer=us|title=Facebook Removes Madoff Web Page After Jeers, Cheers|last=Sandler|first=Linda|date=December 22, 2008|publisher=Bloomberg|access-date=February 15, 2013}} On 8 December 2006, Swanson and Shana Madoff became engaged.[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/business/19swanson.html?_r=0 "Unlikely Player Pulled Into Madoff Swirl"], by Stephen Labaton, December 18, 2008, The New York Times
In 2009, after the scandal broke, SEC Inspector General H. David Kotz investigated, and concluded that there was no evidence that Swanson's romantic relationship with Shana Madoff influenced the closing of the SEC investigation of Madoff.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zKhbMU1RoHAC&pg=PA46 |title=The Crime of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail |author=Danny Schechter |year=2010 |publisher=Red Wheel Weiser |isbn=978-1-934708-62-0 |access-date=February 14, 2013}}[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/03madoff.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 "Report Details How Madoff's Web Ensnared S.E.C."], by David Stout, September 2, 2009, The New York Times{{failed verification|date=February 2016}} He did conclude, however, that: "Swanson's communication with Shana during the period of time he was engaged in a cause examination of her uncle and father's firm, created the appearance of a potential conflict of interest."
The September 29, 2007, wedding between Swanson and Shana Madoff was attended by Lori Richards, the SEC's Director of Compliance Investigations and Examinations, who oversaw the Division in which Swanson worked at the SEC.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sec-compliance-official-recused-on-madoff/|title=SEC Compliance Official Recused on Madoff|date=April 6, 2009|work=CBS News|author=Laura Strickler|access-date=February 19, 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RLVPAQAAIAAJ&q=%22shana+madoff%22+compliance|title=Money Manager's Compliance Guide|publisher=Thompson Publishing Group|author1=Clifford J. Alexander|author2=Arthur C. Delibert|author3=Catherine S. Bardsley|year=1994|access-date=February 14, 2013}} In 2008, Bernard Madoff spoke at a business roundtable meeting of his "very close" relationship with an SEC lawyer, and chuckled: "my niece even married one".{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/WallStreet/Story?id=6471863&page=1|title=SEC Official Married into Madoff Family|date=December 16, 2008|work=ABC News|author1=Brian Ross|author2=Joseph Rhee|access-date=February 26, 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-pC06llkznwC&pg=PA193|title=Madoff with the Money|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2009|author=Jerry Oppenheimer|isbn=978-0-470-50498-7|access-date=February 26, 2013}} In April 2009, Richards recused herself from the Madoff investigation.
Ameriprise Financial
Subsequent to working at the SEC, Swanson was a Vice President of regulatory strategy at Ameriprise Financial, a financial services company based in Minnesota.
BATS
Swanson is the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary
of BATS Global Markets, an electronic stock exchange that is the third-largest stock exchange in the United States, which he joined as General Counsel in January 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.batstrading.com/about/management/ |title=BATS Exchange | Management Team |publisher=BATS Trading |access-date=February 15, 2013}} He was hired in part to assist the exchange in its effort to obtain exchange status from the SEC.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Madoff investment scandal}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swanson, Eric}}
Category:People associated with the Madoff investment scandal
Category:Lawyers from Minneapolis
Category:University of Minnesota alumni
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Hamline University School of Law alumni